Return of the Inverted Boggart
by P.D. Ellus
Summary: All is well in Hermione's life, until she gets herself into detention with none other than Draco Malfoy. Another installment of the Inverted Boggart series. SSHG


Disclaimer- Not mine, all JKR's, no money being made.

A/N: Another installment of the inverted boggart series. I don't know why but this story comes to me from time to time and it's irresistible.

-RETURN OF THE INVERTED BOGGART

Hermione walked quietly through the dark hallways, taking care to be out of sight, much like Severus does when prowling the halls.

Severus...

Hermione's eyes lit up when the memory of their last encounter came flooding back in very graphic images. Yes, she could name a few things that brought her so much happiness and satisfaction, and Severus was on top of that short list; followed closely by her hunger for knowledge. In fact, she could even say both things blended together, becoming one great source of pleasure.

With Severus she had everything, he fulfilled her not only physically, but intellectually. She smiled inwardly, remembering how it all started.

She had been in love with him since her 4th year. He invaded her dreams constantly and it was quite exhilarating, when he accepted her as his apprentice. But their relationship only started after that night when Filch brought in the Boggarts. Her efforts to get through to Severus were frustrating and if it weren't for the Boggarts, none of them would ever know their feelings for each other.

Their relationship developed slowly but honestly; there were no games or guessing what the other really wanted. They both knew it and now that she had less than a week to finish her seventh year, they were making plans to get married as soon as they talked to her parents.

But even so, they couldn't keep away for too long, their night escapades had become something mandatory, and with that, she had learned to make herself almost invisible, moving in the shadows on her trips to the dungeons.

Severus had given her good tips on how to avoid Filch and Mrs Norris or any of the other teachers on Hall duty. She was so used to it by now, that it came as a surprise when a hand gripped her shoulder.

"Today must be your lucky day... Mudblood!" Malfoy spoke to her ear, emphasizing his disgust in the word 'Mudblood'.

Malfoy's teasing hadn't ceased at all over the years; in fact, it had gotten a lot worse after his father died at the hands of Harry in the last battle. He generally blamed all things Muggle for his father's demise.

"Let go of me!" She yanked herself out of his hand, with her wand already out.

"Not so fast Mudblood. Tonight I'm on Hall duty and you're not getting yourself out of this one," he said pointing his wand at her face.

"Who died and made you Head Boy? Last time I heard, Blaise was Head Boy," she said eyeing him suspiciously. She was used to Blaise's watch, and he

always started from the third floor.

"Blaise had a death in the family and had to go home for the weekend, I'm taking his duties until he comes back," he said grinning wickedly. "Now move!" He pushed her down the hall, taking her to Severus' office.

Before Malfoy could knock, Severus was out of his office, a look of surprise flashing through his eyes, only to have his usual cool façade replace it before Malfoy could notice it.

"Professor, I found her walking around after curfew and thought you would like to handle it," Malfoy said proudly.

Severus made sure Malfoy wasn't looking at him when he spoke, giving her an apologetic shrug, "Well, well, well, Miss Granger... I wonder what an insufferable Gryffindor like yourself would be doing in the dungeons at a time like this. People may think you're up to something..."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, thinking of how she would hurt him once they were alone.

"That will be 50 points from Gryffindor and you are to report to detention with me tomorrow night!" he said lifting an eyebrow almost as if mocking her for her recklessness.

"Yes, Sir." She crossed her arms irritably.

"Now go back to your dormitory before I deduct more points from your House."

Yes, he was definitely punishing her for her lack of attention.

She turned and left the Dungeon with Malfoy on her heels. The ferret was probably making sure she was going to return to Gryffindor tower, perhaps even hoping to catch Harry or Ron on the way.

She had the superiority to ignore Malfoy's insults most of the time, but tonight she was just too angry and needy of Severus to be able to keep her cool.

"I'm going to make sure Professor Snape finds something really nasty for you to clean, Mudblood!" he mocked. "You're going to feel right at home, I'm sure filth is something you must be used to."

Before he could breathe another word, he was flying to the nearest wall. Hermione advanced on him, with her wand, ready to hex the sneer off his face. Malfoy clumsily got to his feet and was able to hex her back, causing her to immediately sprout green spots all over her body, including her hair. Not wasting any time, she yelled a spell that made his ears grow long like a donkey's. A tail made a hole through his pants and when he opened his mouth to protest, only a loud braying came out.

"What is the meaning of this?" The strict voice of Professor McGonagall startled Hermione, making her realize how far she had gone.

"I-I'm sorry." She couldn't think of any explanation for her acts, without complicating herself even more. How would she explain what she was doing out of bed in the first place?

"Shame on you, Miss Granger! Dueling in the Halls after curfew," The Head of House eyed her reproachfully.

The Deputy Headmistress looked at Malfoy. "And you Mr Malfoy, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"HEE-HAW!"

McGonagall's nose flared in her signature sign of anger. "You two, infirmary now! And after Madam Pomfrey takes care of this mess, I'll assign you both detentions," she said pushing both students to the

hospital wing.

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Hermione sighed as she tried to get her breakfast down in her infirmary bed. The lecture she had to endure from McGonagall last night, did nothing more than add to the horrid green blotches that covered her face and hair by now. While the hex she used on Malfoy was easy to remove, the one he used on her was a little more complicated, which was why she was going to have to spend a day in the hospital while he was already back to his own dormitory.

"Not at all fair!" she said to herself while pushing a bite of scrambled eggs into her mouth.

"I'd say it's a lesson you will never forget." The Potions Master was standing at the foot of her bed, not even trying to hide his amusement with the way she looked.

"Thank you ever so much, Severus."

"You have to be more alert; you let yourself get used to the routine. A good spy always has to count on the unexpected," he said smoothly.

"I'm not a spy, Severus!" she said irritably.

"Obviously."

Hermione rolled her eyes and asked, "What am I going to do tonight? I told Professor McGonagall I already had detention with you."

"Actually, that's why I'm here. Minerva assigned your detention to Filch instead, and you have to serve it with Malfoy," he said changing the amused tone to annoyed. "Apparently she thinks she's doing you a favor by taking you out of my hands."

"Oh great!" She covered her face with her hands.

"You should be in Filch's office by 7Pm. I'm told your uh... condition will be cured by then, so it shouldn't be a problem." He looked around the infirmary to make sure no one was looking and quickly kissed her green lips.

Then, whispered in her ear, "See me after your detention, and make sure to not be caught this time. "With that he left her alone with her thoughts.

Hermione grimaced at the thought of detention alongside Malfoy.

'At least I can see Severus afterwards, that is probably the only good thing worth looking forward tonight,' she thought.

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Draco walked to Filch's office ready to kill anyone crossing his path. If Snape had the upper hand in this, he would be happily making his way to the Astronomy tower to meet Pansy. But McGonagall and the Mudblood ruined everything. That old witch, pairing him with the likes of Miss Perfect to serve detention!

He found the door opened and Filch was nowhere to be seen. Draco shrugged and decided to wait for Filch to come back, slouching in the only chair available in the room, which was very uncomfortable and dusty.

The room was creepy, creepier than the Dungeons. Cobwebs and rusty objects piled in a corner, some unidentifiable things that looked a lot like torture instruments. He shivered. Cat fur covered an old coat hanging behind the door and he thought he saw something crawling under it. At least Snape was a control and organization freak, keeping his classroom and office extremely organized and clean. Filch obviously went out of his way to make his surroundings this unpleasant to keep the students away. 'I hope I don't have to clean this hole,' he thought in disgust.

Behind his desk, there was an old trunk half opened with some of the things Filch collected from the students over the year. Draco looked sideways and bent over to see if he could find something interesting inside. A noise made him jump and back away. He looked around him and heard it again, coming from the broom closet. As he was ready to get out of there, he ran into Granger who had just come into the room.

"Don't you watch where you're going, Mudblood?" he barked angrily, but still shaken with the noise.

"I could say the same about you," she replied.

Filch arrived. "Here, it took me a while to find the Muggle soap, but I did. It wouldn't be real detention without hard work!" he said shoving a bucket full of soapy water into Hermione's hand.

"And you take this," he thrust two dirty rags into Draco's hands, earning a disgusted sneer from the boy.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Draco asked arrogantly.

"Why, clean my office! I want to see it shining by the time I come back... and no magic!" The unpleasant man walked out the door and before he was gone, he added, "The broom closet is off-limits, the lock is broken, and once you get locked inside no one will hear you from outside no matter how much you scream." He grinned, showing his filthy teeth. "Oh and don't even try to steal anything from that trunk, I got a Boggart locked inside it!"

Draco opened his mouth to retort but Filch was gone. He turned in panic to Hermione. "The trunk is open!"

"What? Did you open it?" she asked walking around the desk to take a better look.

"Of course not, it was open when I got here. The Boggart must have... " His narrowed as he looked at the broom closet. "It's locked in the broom closet!"

"And how do you know that?" Hermione asked him crossing her arms.

"I heard a noise just before you got here, Mudblood." He towered over her.

Before she could show her indignation to him, as if on quote, the noise sounded again, this time louder.

Hermione spun around. "What was that?"

"That's what I'm talking about," he said pointing at the closet.

Hermione looked at the closet door and shrugged, "I suppose it's not a problem while it's still in there. You heard Filch, the lock is hard to open."

"Like that will make me feel safer," he answered.

"What? Don't tell me you're scared of Boggarts?" she mocked.

"Shut up Mudblood!"

She pulled her wand and placed it on his throat, "Stop calling me that!"

He cowered against the wall and closing his eyes as if waiting for the blow, he said, "You will get yourself another detention if you hex me again."

"Coward, your mouth is bigger than your courage!" she said retrieving her wand and sticking it back in her pocket.

Just then, a muffled sound started coming from the closet, along with heavy pounding. This time they could see the door lock was almost breaking free.

Hermione grabbed the chair and placed it under the lock, which only made the pounding and muffled sound increase desperately.

"Great thinking Granger, I wonder how long a 'chair' is going to keep the Boggart from us!" he said sarcastically.

"Well, you have a better idea?" she asked.

"Why don't you let it out and get rid of it?" Draco suggested.

"Why don't you?" She put her hands on her hips.

"I just though since you excel at everything, you would be more than glad to show off your abilities," he said sneering.

"I- I'm not very good with Boggarts... "

"So, who's afraid of Boggarts now?" he mocked.

"Just put a sock in it, Malfoy!"

"Mudblood!"

"I told you not to call me..." her hand had come into a fist and she was about to punch him in the face when the noise started again.

They both yelled and grabbed onto each other. When they realized they were hugging, Hermione said, "You are a whiny coward."

"Then why don't you open that door if you're so brave?" Draco asked, boring his grey eyes into her brown ones.

Draco realized he didn't want to let go; he wanted to hug her more, to get closer. His arms tightened around her and he couldn't tell who did it first. They kissed passionately and deepening further as the banging on the door increased and the chair fell over. He didn't care anymore, all he wanted was her.

He trailed his kisses down her neck, grabbing handfuls of bushy hair. Her beautiful bushy hair... that smelled like vanilla. The door slammed open and he could hear something moving, but his senses were lost in the sensations of having her in his arms, kissing him back.

He breathed, "Punch me!"

"What?" she asked clearly puzzled.

"You were going to hit me... I love it when you hit me! Call me a Ferret, call me whatever you want," he said kissing her jaw.

The hysterical laughter was what brought back the awareness of his surroundings.

He let go of her and both turned to find... Hermione?

She pulled out her wand and still struggling to stop laughing, said, "GRAVIS AGRIMONI!"

The Boggart-Hermione still draped around Draco swirled in a puff of smoke and in instants was no more.

Draco's head hurt, trying to piece together exactly what the hell just went on. The closet door was opened, the lock broken, and Hermione Granger still with little hints of green in her hair was standing in front of him with a smug expression.

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Severus was laughing so hard; Hermione was having trouble believing the man next to her was really her feared Potions Professor.

He held her closer to him and she snuggled under his chin. She loved to lay with him in his bed.

"Tell me again, just how you did it," he said, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Well, I arrived for detention five minutes earlier and Filch told me to start cleaning his office. He took the keychain that was placed in his trunk --He said he had just trapped an Inverted Boggart in there-- unlocked the closet and looked for the Muggle soap he used for his detentions, so we wouldn't use magic.

"He was running out of soap, so he told me to wait in there and went to get more in the cleaning storeroom. I saw something moving under the desk and found out the trunk was open. Filch probably unlocked it by mistake when taking off the key chain.

"I immediately reached for my wand to find it before anyone entered the room. The last thing I wanted was to have Malfoy or Filch find out what, or better yet, who my deepest desire was." She kissed the tip of his nose. "So I started searching for the Boggart inside the broom closet when I heard your voice behind me. When I saw you in front of me, I knew you wouldn't have come to visit in my detention, so I pointed my wand and was ready to perform the spell when the Boggart-Severus pushed me inside the closet and shut the door on me.

"Obviously the creature sensed I was about to destroy him and got rid of me to find another victim. When I tried to get out, the door was stuck and for some reason, I could hear the voices outside, but they couldn't hear me," she said frowning.

Severus nodded. "Yes, Filch had me charm that closet to trap the students and give them a great scare by leaving them there, unheard until someone decides to check inside."

"You mean, no one can hear them clearly yelling for help?" she asked.

"Yes, a bit sadistic on his part, isn't it?" Severus joked.

"You are both sick!" She shook her head.

"Anyway, I heard someone walking inside the room and tried to bang on the door, but it wasn't working. I heard Malfoy's voice and another voice that sounded oddly familiar, followed by Filch's. After a while, I could not hear Filch anymore, but the conversation between Malfoy and the other person, sounded a lot like they were arguing.

"I tried using many unlocking spells but nothing worked. I couldn't stand knocking anymore, so I looked for something strong enough to bang on the door. That's when I found an old Beater's bat. At some point I think they put a chair to block the way, so after beating the door really hard I was able to break the lock and get out.

"What I saw and heard after that was better than hexing Malfoy to pieces!" she said grinning.

"What did you tell him?" Severus asked.

"I said that if he stopped making my life hell, I might just be quiet about everything I saw." She rolled over Severus, sitting on top of him.

"I love you when you're evil like that," he said, caressing her thighs.

"Apparently, Malfoy gets a kick out of that too," she said.

"He'll get a kick of my boots if he ever lays a hand on you," he said dangerously, before finishing the conversation with a long intense kiss.

The End

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A/N: Thanks to Shauna for beta-reading and Nakhash Mekashefah for ppointing out a few problems ;-)


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